Ombudsman disqualifies Regencia from holding govt post

By NORA SORIÑO
GSD-Iligan bureau chief

ILIGAN City–Mayor Celso Regencia’s legal problems are far from over.

Regencia has told a stunned audience over the weekend that the Office of the Ombudsman-Mindanao has slapped him with an order for his perpetual disqualification to hold public office.

But Regencia said his lawyers were taking care of the matter.

Jose Pantoja, city information officer, said the latest decision of the Ombudsman was an offshoot of the decision of Judge Ombra Ali Bacaraman of Regional Trial Court in Lanao del Norte-Branch 4 that reversed an earlier ruling of Judge Arthur Abundiente who ruled that Regencia could serve as mayor even while in detention.

The ruling was in December 2015 when Regencia was still detained at the city jail in Tipanoy in connection with the ambush of forme congressman Vicente Belmonte Jr. near the Laguindingan airport in Misamis Oriental on Dec. 11, 2014.

The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), in an opinion, said Regencia could not serve as mayor since he was “legally incapacitated.” The department said the rule on succession should be followed where the vice mayor would function as acting mayor.

The response of Regencia’s camp to this was to go to court to settle the issue. Regencia was then granted a temporary restraining order by Abundiente and subsequently, a writ of preliminary injunction in December 2015.

However, Bacaraman’s ruling on June 24, 2016 reversed Abundiente’s writ of preliminary injunction.

The DILG was not able to serve the ruling at that time because the then vice mayor Ruderic Marzo ran for mayor.

“(Marzo’s) running to the Ombudsman (is) borne out of such development,” Pantoja said, adding that it was the basis of the Ombudsman’s decision on the grave abuse of authority case that carried the penalty of perpetual disqualification from office.

Regencia said he had 15 days from the receipt of the Ombudsman’s order to file a motion for reconsideration.

Regencia was released from detention in Jan. 30, this year, after the cases of murder and frustrated murder against him were all dismissed because four witnesses for the prosecution retracted their statements.